Home > UK immigration > Home Office appeal regarding High Court judgment on UK marriage visa financial requirements set for March 2014

Home Office appeal regarding High Court judgment on UK marriage visa financial requirements set for March 2014

November 2nd, 2013

 

An important date has been set regarding the future of the financial threshold requirements related to UK settlement visa applications for partners, fiancees and spouses of British citizens and UK permanent residents wishing to live permanently in the UK. In July 2013, the High Court decided that although the income requirements set by the Home Office were not illegal, they were however unreasonably high and in the words of the court, ‘unjustified and disproportionate’. The Home Office subsequently challenged this verdict. The appeal will be heard between the 3rd and 5th of March 2014.

 

The current financial requirement in place regarding UK partner, spousal and marriage visas under the settlement policy is an income of £18,600 per year for couples with no children. The main reason for the disapproval of the High Court was that this figure is approximately £5000 more than the average income of a UK resident. Furthermore, there are further income requirements for those wishing to bring children and other dependents into the country, which resulted in the UK marriage visa process being viewed as an insurmountable barrier to bringing a foreign family member or partner to the UK.

 

Due to this ongoing legal situation, the UK Border Agency (UK Visas & Immigration) has decided that those settlement visa applications which would otherwise be declined on account of the income threshold alone will be put on hold until the matter has been resolved. UK fiancee and marriage visa applications which attract a refusal on other non-income threshold related grounds will still be refused, while UK partner visa applications which meet all of the requirements will still be granted under the current UKBA policy.